Worst Poker Book You've Ever Seen/Read?

[Albert Moulton]

I can't wait for Jaime Gold to write his book on "The Greatest Game on Earth, by the 2007 WSOP Champion, Jaime Gold."

The chapter on phsychology will be the best. "I knew that he knew I'd never tell him I had top pair when I went all in. But since I knew that he knew, then I knew I could tell the truth and get a worse hand to call. So I told him the truth so he'd know I was lying even though I wasn't. And the rest, as they say, was history..."

[Beavis68]

[ QUOTE ]
No, I am saying that I disliked Bad Beats and Lucky Draws because it provided poor insight into the hands featured, was full of Phil Hellmuth talking about how good he was which I don't really care to read about, was poorly written, and on and on.

[/ QUOTE ]

BB&LDs wasn't really a strategy book, it was Phil's Cardplayer column stuckin a book.


The Complete Book of Holdem is one of the worst things I have ever read.

I liked PPLPs, it got me winning in several games.

Not the best book, but great for rank beginners.

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
"The Illustrated Guide to Texas Hold'Em" and "The Illustrated Guide to No-Limit Texas Hold'Em" by Dennis Purdy.

[/ QUOTE ]While I haven't seen the book mentioned in the OP (thought the Amazon reviews are hilarious), Purdy's books have to be up pretty high in the list.

In the NL book, he advocates things like betting a twentieth of the pot on the river (betting T100 into a T2000 pot).

In both books, it seems like 25% or more of the examples are how to play a full house (or better, I think he teaches how to play a royal in each book.) And he plays the monsters very weak tight.

The funny thing is that the Limit book gets great reviews. Almost all the reviews are 4-5 stars. The NL book is much newer and only has 2 reviews.

[CORed]

[ QUOTE ]

Example 1:
(Chapter 1, Odds of a full house on turn or river, page 15)
[Jh Qh] vs. [Kc Ts] and Flop [Ks Tc 2c]
"There are three 10's and three Kings left in deck which could help make the hand a Full house, for a total of six Outs."


[/ QUOTE ]

You mean you're not playing with the standard 65 card 5 suit deck?

[gusmahler]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"The Illustrated Guide to Texas Hold'Em" and "The Illustrated Guide to No-Limit Texas Hold'Em" by Dennis Purdy.

[/ QUOTE ]While I haven't seen the book mentioned in the OP (thought the Amazon reviews are hilarious), Purdy's books have to be up pretty high in the list.

In the NL book, he advocates things like betting a twentieth of the pot on the river (betting T100 into a T2000 pot).

In both books, it seems like 25% or more of the examples are how to play a full house (or better, I think he teaches how to play a royal in each book.) And he plays the monsters very weak tight.

The funny thing is that the Limit book gets great reviews. Almost all the reviews are 4-5 stars. The NL book is much newer and only has 2 reviews.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's a long thread about the Purdy NL book, giving more examples.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...Number=6207637

[Red_Diamond]

Ok gusmahler, dumb question but.... how come I never saw this review link before? I just checked and for some reason, I still don't see it in the main pages of this area of the forum.

Anyhow... I recently read a review on this book in a poker magazine, this also was not exactly positive with flying colors.

[Debaser]

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Killer Poker Online

The second book on poker I ever read, and while it was a mildly entertaining read, I kept waiting for the bit where it told me how to play

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This was probably the most helpful book I've ever read, and I own 15-20 books or so. You're right - it's probably the only one that DOESN'T specifically talk about strategy. If you had read the first couple pages, table of contents, or even the back of the book before purchasing, you would have known that

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Agree with this 100%.

Also JV writes very well. All his books are fast paced and entertaining. 2+2 books contain the best strategy by far but they are painful to read.

[govman6767]

I own 3 Vorhaus books I have no problem other than he calls B&M players "leatherasses".
What.... do online players not play in chairs 12 hours a day?

At least B&M players have to get up to use a rest room in the casino. Internet players prob pee in a gatorade bottle so they don't miss a few hands.

Other than that I enjoyed the Killer hold'em handbook.
I was also a big fan of Wesley Crusher his mom was hot.
I also like Wil Wheatons foreward in KPO2 because he drinks and that goes a LOOOOOONG way with me.

[CityFan]

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"How to put bad beats on people and how to Make lucky draws"

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Someone needs to write this book

[/ QUOTE ]

Easy. Call more when you're behind.

[CityFan]

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[ QUOTE ]
Killer Poker Online

The second book on poker I ever read, and while it was a mildly entertaining read, I kept waiting for the bit where it told me how to play

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
This was probably the most helpful book I've ever read, and I own 15-20 books or so. You're right - it's probably the only one that DOESN'T specifically talk about strategy. If you had read the first couple pages, table of contents, or even the back of the book before purchasing, you would have known that

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree with this 100%.

Also JV writes very well. All his books are fast paced and entertaining. 2+2 books contain the best strategy by far but they are painful to read.

[/ QUOTE ]

I enjoyed Killer Poker, it was a good read and it taught me a few things about the psychological aspects of poker and working on my game, which weren't all as obvious as people make out.

I learned much more about strategy from HOH, but it's not exactly a riveting read.

I plan to read Killer Poker again at some point, now I'm at a level where I can actually put some of the guy's advice into practice. Like he says: it's a kind of self-help book and you won't get much out of it if you just read from cover to cover.